Kagiso Rabada Named South Africa's Cricketer Of The Year
Kagiso Rabada joined Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, Makhaya Ntini and AB de Villiers as two-time winners of South Africa's Cricketer of the Year award
- Posted by Santosh Rao
- Updated: June 03, 2018 11:18 AM IST
Highlights
- Rabada won the South Africa's Cricketer of the Year for the second time
- Rabada is world's number one Test bowler
- Rabada joined Amla, Kallis, Ntini and AB de Villiers as two-time winners
Kagiso Rabada, world's number one Test bowler, was on Saturday named South Africa's Cricketer of the Year. Rabada received the award at the end of a year that not only saw him remain as a consistent match winner for the South Africa team but was also subject of a disciplinary hearing after he was found guilty of misconduct during Australia's tour of South Africa. This is Rabada's second South African Cricketer of the Year award. He had previously won the award in 2016. With this, Rabada joined Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, Makhaya Ntini and AB de Villiers as two-time winners.
Going back to the series in England last July, Rabada took 72 wickets at an average of 19.52 in 12 Test matches.
During Australia's controversial four-match Test series, the 23-year-old was also adjudged as the Man of the Series. However, he was banned for one Test in England after he reached a demerit points threshold -- and would have missed the last two Tests against Australia earlier this year if he had not appealed successfully against a verdict that would have brought a two-match ban for reaching a second threshold.
The ban came after a collision with Australian captain Steve Smith. Match referee Jeff Crowe found him guilty of a level two offence and he was docked three demerit points, which triggered an automatic ban. But it was downgraded to a level one offence with one demerit point.
Rabada remains in danger of missing more matches, though, because he has accumulated seven points, one short of a ban. With points remaining on his record for two years, he will not start shedding points until February 2019.
Rabada collected a total of six awards, including Test cricketer of the year, one-day international player of the year and players' player of the year.
(With AFP inputs)